The vets above are known to me personally as leaders in the field of pet rat medicine (Drs. Brown and Pilny) or recommended for their experience treating pet rats (Drs. Cantor and Haddock). Drs. Quesenberry and Prattis below are also excellent and are known to me, as well.

Dr. Prattis is no longer in New York City.Susan M. Prattis, VMD, Ph.D., DACLAM (board certified, including rats)

Please note:You need to understand the difference between sedation and anesthesia or analgesia. You may already know this, but I want no misunderstanding. Sedation calms the rat but does not prevent pain in a painful procedure. The rat is quiet but feels pain. Analgesia reduces pain sensation. Anesthesia allows full pain relief for painful procedures. Please always ask for greatest ratty comfort. Not so long ago this was a new concept (addressing pain care for small animals). If you have questions on ratty comfort when you leave the office, please call the office and ask more questions.

It is useful with any vet that you see for you to learn about planned procedures (including adequate pain control), aftercare (including pain management), and costs and options before you agree to have rattie treated. If this discussion does not go well, please find another vet.

Also, for all vets, I recommend asking for a written estimate of low and high fees that may be incurred in a procedure so there are no surprises.

Thanks for your information Raquel, it's so needed when an emergent problem occurs in our ratties. I'm going to be calling these vets very soon, Mahdy has a second tumor near the pituary, and Winnie has two tumors in the same area (her first tumor experience).

How do you know the growths are near the pituitary? Are they brain lesions?

In this area, I highly recommend Dr. Pilny as the most experienced and best trained rat vet. Please discuss Lupron with your vet in case it applies in your rats' cases as an aid to shrinkage of the growths if surgery is not an option.

No problem. Just please note that I do not know that vet. I allow everybody to comment on their preferences, but Dr. Pilny is mine for this area.

I hope all goes well. Kindly update us. Also note that rat surgery is very delicate. If rattie has had respiratory issues, the vet may need to prescribe antibiotics before and after surgery. Dr. Pilny is so careful with surgeries that he may prefer to do some of them at the Animal Specialty Center in Yonkers NY, where the monitoring is state of the art and reduces the risks, including death, which is always a surgical risk. He can explain public transportation all the way. I will provide his email if a person emails me privately.

It may also not be necessary or advisable to do surgery in some cases. Dr. Pilny has been having good success in one case with Lupron to reduce the size of masses that occurred to a rat with a history of benign mammary tumors. One mass disappeared.

Of course, not being a vet or knowing what your rattie has at present, I am not giving direct advice. I would not want precious time wasted if the correct advice were to remove the growths as soon as possible, which is usually the case.

If the rat is in good condition and the surgeries don't take too long, the rat should be spayed at the same time, provided the vet is able to do it safely. If the rat is not too old or fat (obese), spaying may be possible. Chances are this will reduce the risk of future mammary tumors. One rat has not had a return of growths after spaying alongside removal of a benign mammary tumor.

Ideally, spaying to reduce risk of mammary (and pituitary) tumors is done by age four months.

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